Growing Violet
by The Pea Pod in the Pumpkin Pie
Summary: Would a younger Yuugi have been more accepted by others as a little girl? And how would this have affected the storyline? FemYuugi. Manga compliant, but also covers anime fillers. The Pharaoh and all his incarnations shall henceforth remain male. Eventual Yami/Yuugi, Kaiba/Yuugi.
1. Chapter 1

1.

Yuugi's grandfather was vast and portly; he wore faded green overalls and smelled of smoke and wood polish and dust. He sat Yuugi on his lap that night, his silver beard tickling the top of her head, and she looked out past The Turtle Game Shop's front counter and cash register and into the shop beyond.

Gleaming glass cases held chess games, video games, packs of cards, puzzles and puzzle boxes, secondhand RPG sets next to old stained dice. Colorful toys, teddy bears and action figures and dolls and everything in between, occupied the top shelves, glass eyes staring at each other across the distance. Craft sets and build-your-own-model kits occupied the bottom shelves. The whole place, despite her grandfather's best dusting and polishing efforts, felt a bit like an antiques store: faded, shabby, disarrayed, and crowded, attracting the sort of people who enjoyed discovering interesting gems amid piles of junk. The unforgivable ones for Mutou Sugoroku were the ones who called the crowded old place "creepy." Yuugi's grandfather swept twice a day and went out back for cigarette breaks because he didn't want people to see him mar the air of his precious store.

Yuugi and her parents and grandparents all lived on the floor above the game shop. It was a bright, garishly colored, two story building. The tiny bottom floor was the legs while the top floor was a swollen pregnant belly extending from below the roof like the very building itself was bloated.

Yuugi's Mom was usually at work, away at her job sweeping as a janitor, while her father was a bit player in an international tourist business who was always away on some new trip. In between trips, he would bring her back fascinating things from foreign lands: gold coins from Morocco, recipes from Bengal, porcelain dolls from China, miniatures of the Eiffel Tower. He would show her pictures of places she had never been to and things she had never imagined. Then Yuugi's mother would tell her to go play and she and Yuugi's father would start yet another argument.

But for the most part, neither of them were ever around. Yuugi's father was usually absent, a thin mousy sort of man who was easy to walk all over, her mother a hard woman who a difficult life had made bitter. She snapped and shouted, demanded a clean room and good grades and firm, on the ground thinking - when she was around.

But mainly, Yuugi was raised by her grandmother and grandfather. Her grandfather had made a living, first as a professional gambler, then as an archaeologist. His idea of retirement was opening up a games & hobby shop. He was the only person Yuugi knew who had stories even cooler than her father's, and the injuries to prove them. Yuugi's grandmother was a stiff, upright sort of person, tall and thin with a neat chiffon of hair despite her humble clothing, even the creases in her face speaking of a sort of understated grace and dignity.

"Your grandfather was always unconventional," she told Yuugi once. "He asked me for a first date by making me solve a puzzle gift with the message written on its pieces. He needed a strong woman just to keep up with all of his interesting, off the ground ideas."

"Without her, I'd fly away," Grandpa had joked.

But Grandma was pretty good with unconventionality, despite all of her claims and outward appearances. Yuugi's parents didn't know what to do with their daughter, it was patently obvious. They always looked puzzled when they talked to her, as if they were not sure how she had come from them. But Grandma and Grandpa, they understood Yuugi - understood her in a way her parents didn't. They felt more like her parents to her.

They had even named her. In every way, Mutou Yuugi was Mutou Sugoroku and Mutou Hanetsuki's child. Yuugi's grandparents had changed their names many times, but their current incarnations were as games themselves - Hanetsuki and Sugoroku were both Japanese games. The naming of their grandchild had been blunter, a relic of their last incarnation as game shop owners. "Yuugi" was a unisex name meaning simply "game."

Yuugi had no doubt, however, that if her grandparents had gone off to do something else, she would go with them. She would change her own name and follow them anywhere they went. They were the ones who cooked her dinner, tucked her in at night, counseled her and comforted her. They were the ones she could talk about games, play, and imagination with, the people who dealt with her odd questions and even odder curiosities.

She looked at her meek little father sometimes and thought perhaps strangeness had skipped a generation. This was not a very nice thing to say about one's father, but Yuugi never said it - she simply thought it.

"Now pay attention, Yuugi." Yuugi looked back down at the chess game in concentration. She was six years old with black pigtails. There she was, on her grandfather's lap, his beard tickling the top of her head.

The chess pieces set on the counter before her were gigantic glass affairs, carefully blown by hand, delicately made. They needed color, Yuugi decided. "Grandpa," she piped up, "can I paint these?"

"I don't see why not," said Grandpa without pause. "Paint them any color you'd like. But Yuugi, the game. This is very important. I've made my move… What's your next move? Calculate. Think carefully."

"I know," said Yuugi absently, still staring down at the chess board, running through different movements and strategies and scenarios in her head. If she moved like this… and he moved like that… she could move like this… and she'd have him.

It was all about whether or not he fell for her trap.

She made her move, sliding the chess piece across the board. "Hmm. Very interesting," said her grandfather thoughtfully. And he moved the way she'd thought he would.

"Checkmate," said Yuugi easily, skipping her player across the board. "Grandpa." She looked up at him quite seriously. "You really must stop letting me win." The statement was so matter of fact that Sugoroku chuckled as Yuugi got down from his lap with the same kind of quiet concentration she did everything.

Grandma opened the game shop door. "We need to clean the kitchen up from dinner," she told Grandpa meaningfully, "and Yuugi needs to go to bed."

"Quite right. Up we go!" Grandpa hoisted Yuugi up into the air, and she squealed and laughed as he made airplane noises, weaving her through the air as they stomped up the stairs and into Yuugi's bedroom. The walls were blue, but painted all across the walls and all across the ceiling borders were fantastical creatures with wings, dancing with each other in a great cross-bedroom collage. Yuugi, a consummate daydreamer, had come up with the artistic ideas herself and given firm orders to the bemused painter her grandparents had hired to decorate her room. She would have drawn her own art on the walls, but Grandpa said he wanted all her masterpieces for himself.

He set her down in her big, fluffy bed and tucked her in; Grandma came in, her apron lifted, to say goodnight. "Big day at school tomorrow," said Grandpa, kneeling by Yuugi's bedside almost as if in a kind of prayer.

"Yeah," said Yuugi unenthusiastically, fading, looking downward. "You always say that."

"You never look happy for school," Grandma sighed. "What's wrong?"

"The other kids at school don't like me," said Yuugi in a small voice, looking down at the threads on the blanket before her. "They think I'm weird and they say I look so pale I must really be a corpse. They tell me I'm always talking to people who aren't really there." Beyond Grandma and Grandpa, Yuugi's troupe of imaginary friends, mostly friendly monsters and happy-faced dinosaurs, watched her sadly.

"Do all the kids say that?" asked Grandpa, his brow wrinkling in concern.

"No," Yuugi admitted. "Not everybody."

"So why don't you go talk to the people who don't say that?" Grandma asked.

Yuugi looked down shyly, twisting her hands in the covers uncomfortably. "I don't wanna," she muttered. "Makes me nervous."

Grandpa kissed her head. "... Now," said Grandma at last, "enough of this. A bedtime book?" she added expectantly. "Yes?"

Yuugi brightened. "The one I had the bookmaker make for me! The one about the princess who slays the dragon and runs out of the castle herself away from the mean old prince!" she cried.

Grandpa and Grandma shared a wry smile. "Of course," said Grandma, going to get the book. It had been the same book every night for a solid month. They could probably read it aloud with their eyes closed by now.

"What's wrong?" Yuugi asked, giving a pouty little indignant frown. She didn't like strange looks between adults that she couldn't understand.

"Oh, nothing," said Grandpa in amusement. "I was just feeling sympathetic, tender emotions toward the man who falls in love with you." He chuckled when Yuugi looked horrified.

* * *

The elementary school playground the next day was lit by clear sunlight. The light shone over the green grass surrounding the wood chips and the jungle gym. Colorful children's playground equipment filled the main space, but a group of girls could be seen sitting cross legged underneath the jungle gym, sharing the makeup that one girl's Mommy had let her bring to school. They giggled and laughed as Yuugi watched them, covered in messy face paint like ancient warriors.

Yuugi never had anything to offer the other girls. She was never allowed in her Mom's bedroom, and anyway, her family didn't have all that much money in the first place. Even at that age, she was aware that there was some vital difference between her and the rich girls. Perhaps because of this, she got picked on a lot.

She sighed and sat down in the grassy corner of the playground, turning back to her friends. The fluffy square one-eyed orange monster - or, well, she didn't want to hurt their feelings, so instead she called them "special persons" - asked for an invisible cup of tea, which were much better than visible cups of tea, and not just because they were easier to make.

"Darjeeling," she commented knowledgeably, handing him his cup. "Very fancy." She giggled.

"Why don't you go talk to that girl you keep looking at?" said the purple brontosaurus, crunching away at the rainbow dumplings that went with the invisible tea.

Yuugi frowned and looked over again at the girl - not the one who had brought makeup, but the one next to her, the pretty girl with the long legs and the short chocolate brown hair. The loveliest and brightest one, the one Yuugi always looked at. "She's too pretty to wanna talk to me," Yuugi muttered, frowning. She turned back to the tea party. "And in any case, I've got my own circle of friends sitting around me. I don't need no stupid girl."

Matter of fact and all purpose, she sipped at her invisible tea.

The blue octopus reached out a tendril and cradled her face affectionately in comfort. Yuugi managed a smile. She looked back at the brown-haired girl - saw the brown-haired girl catch her eye. Looked down again. Ripped at little pieces of grass beside her feet.

"Anyways," she said. "I wanna make a new drawing, so I need you all to pose for me, okay? I want -"

"Hey. Why are you always looking at me?" Yuugi looked up in alarm. The girl with the short brown hair was gone from her group of face-painted comrades and was instead standing in front of Yuugi, hands on her hips. "And who are you talking to?" she demanded.

Yuugi stared at the girl and pointed slowly in a different direction. "... My friends," she said.

The girl looked at the space where nothing was, and then looked at Yuugi, so tiny with her big, alarmed violet eyes. At last, she laughed. "There's nothing there," she teased. Yuugi opened her mouth heatedly, flushing… and then looked down. "Now come on. Why are you always looking at me?"

"... Cause you're so pretty," Yuugi muttered at last, still ripping at grass beside her feet. "And everyone makes fun o' me and calls me ugly."

"What?!" the girl yelled, and Yuugi looked up in alarm again. "But there's no bullying allowed on the playground! Come with me!"

She grabbed Yuugi's arm and began yanking her in the direction of the other girls.

"No! Please! Wait -!" Yuugi began in alarm, but she was already standing, blushing furiously, in front of the brown-haired girl's friends.

"This girl needs a makeover," said the brown-haired girl fiercely. "And we're gonna give her one!" She glared around at the other girls as if to say 'or else.'

Eyebrows rose and eyes blinked in surprise all around the group. "... Mutou Yuugi?" said one girl finally.

Yuugi crossed her hands before herself and bowed nervously. "... H-hi," she whispered, looking downward.

The girls looked at each other for a moment and made a silent decision. Anzu would only have let another girl over to meet her group of friends, and only a girl would have been allowed to be a shy, feminine shrinking violet. But as it was…

"Sure," said the girl who'd brought the makeup at last. "She can be with us."

Yuugi looked up in delight and disbelief. These girls were popular. If she were friends with them… She could meet all kinds of people!

The brown-haired girl giggled at her expression and sat down, patting the spot next to herself on the wood chips. "Nice to meet you," she said. "My name's Mazaki Anzu."

* * *

 _Author's Notes:_ The first few chapters of this story will cover fem Yuugi's childhood pre-canon.

I plan on having this story cover both anime and manga. I have very specific ideas on how I want to handle the Puzzle and the Pharaoh (who will remain male).

The reason why this Yuugi didn't meet Anzu in the same way male Yuugi did in manga canon, is because male Yuugi tried to approach Anzu as his crush. Female Yuugi feels more awe and envy toward a female Anzu, so while she'd still have noticed her, I had to have them meet some other way.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Yuugi's first slumber party with the other girls was really when it all came together.

Her grandmother walked her to the girl's front door that night and kissed the top of her head. Yuugi was standing there nervously, purple sleeping bag and pajamas underneath her arm. "You'll do fine," said Hanetsuki, and she knocked on the door before Yuugi could stop her. Yuugi swallowed.

The door swung open and a middle-aged woman with neat shoulder length hair, pearl earrings, and a nice sweater was standing there. This was a townhouse in one of the fancier parts of Domino City. "Here for the party?" she said. "Come on in." She stood aside to let them through.

Yuugi walked through the door, and then her grandmother stayed outside and called, "Have fun, Yuugi!" And the door swung shut, making Yuugi feel very small and alone in the entrance hall. It was paneled with wood, wood flooring, fancy bright lighting, and crimson-colored furniture.

"Come with me," said the girl's mother, and Yuugi followed her shyly up the stairs to a bedroom with a four-poster bed hung with gauzy mermaid-scale-colored curtains. The rest of the girls were all sitting on the bed, gasping and giggling.

"Yuugi! Over here!" Anzu called, smiling. Yuugi put her sleeping bag down and went to join them.

"We were just telling scary stories," said the head of the party excitedly. The girls went around the circle, each telling a different made-up scary story. Yuugi gasped in awe, eyes wide, through several different stories, before all eyes turned to her.

She swallowed. She wanted to impress these girls. This would have to be good.

"Once there was a little girl," she began, "who was walking through the forest, when she came upon a goblin. And the goblin said, I control fire, and if you don't make a deal with me, I'll have my fire eat you up.

"So the girl made a deal with a goblin, who said she had to bring him one meal at this spot every day. So for a few days, the girl did. But then one night she went camping with her friends. Time and time passed… and the girl still did not bring the goblin a meal.

"So she and all her friends were sitting around the campfire, roasting s'mores, and the campfire rose up -" She lifted her arms, eyes wide, really getting into her imagination now, and the girls gasped. "And it swallowed the girl whole!"

"I've never heard a scary story about a goblin before," said Anzu.

Yuugi hesitated. "Was it not good?"

"No, it was very imaginative!" said Anzu excitedly, impressed. The other girls were nodding.

The next game they played was Truth Or Dare. Yuugi, buoyed by her success, really wanted to impress her new friends, so when it was her turn she chose dare. "You have to get in your pajamas and run down the street yelling like crazy," said the girl whose job it was to make up the dare, and everyone around the circle smirked.

Yuugi hesitated. Shy and reserved, easily embarrassed, she didn't want to run down the street in her pajamas shouting.

"See? I knew she couldn't do it," one girl jeered.

"Don't be silly! Yuugi will do it, won't you Yuugi?" Anzu turned to her.

"... Yes," Yuugi decided, bucking up her determination. "I will!"

So she put on her pajamas, and snuck down the stairs, peeking around the doorway into the kitchen. The mother and father were sitting at the table with late-afternoon cups of coffee. She tiptoed past them, and out the door onto the street.

She looked around - it was late, and nobody was about.

She took a deep breath, and tried to shout. What came out was a very small sound. Yuugi became frustrated with herself. Why couldn't she do this?! At last, frustrated, she let out a great yell and tore, charging, down the street like a wild rampaging bull.

Lights turned on all over the neighborhood, people came out of their houses. "What on earth are you doing?!" one old woman with rollers in her grey hair and a nightgown demanded.

But Yuugi had stopped and she was grinning. All her new friends were cheering from the bedroom window.

* * *

The girls were all firmly scolded, and they sat there back in the bedroom pretending to be contrite and trying not to snicker. Once the mother had left, all the girls turned to Yuugi excitedly.

"That was incredible!" said one of them.

"Yeah, super brave!"

Yuugi grinned.

"So I don't get it. You seem cool," said the girl who'd thrown the slumber party, puzzled. "How come no one likes you?" The question hurt; only a child would be so unthinkingly blunt.

"I don't know," Yuugi muttered, staring down at her feet. "Because I'm quiet. And… different."

The girls looked at each other. "Yuugi," said Anzu at last, smiling. "We have presents for you."

Yuugi looked up in surprise. "Really?"

The girls all began taking out clothes and makeup - fancy, pretty clothes, like skirts and blouses. One girl even had a pair of brown slip-on shoes. "If you seemed cool, we thought we'd give these to you," said the lead girl. "We thought your look could use some updating."

Yuugi looked down at her faded, holey jeans and crummy sneakers and baggy T-shirt. Then she looked up at the pretty clothes in astonishment - and a wide smile grew over her face. "Thank you so much!" she said. The other girls smiled back.

Yuugi had friends. Real, true friends.

They dressed her up in the new clothes and makeup, took her hair out of its pigtails and pulled it up into a dark ponytail. She looked reserved, she decided, staring in the full-length bedroom mirror, yet sporty and classy. Girly.

It was a total transformation. She was in something close to awe.

"I think," said Anzu bossily, "that you should make your traits work for you. You strike me as this really shy, feminine, cute, different and intelligent sort of person. So you should work that angle. Make it admirable and use it to your advantage."

When Yuugi went home the next day in her new clothes, her grandfather frowned in worry. "They wanted you to do things and look like someone else?"

"They just wanted to see if I had guts," Yuugi argued. "If I was cool." She was confused. Her concerned grandparents had always understood before. "And besides, I like the way I look now." She lifted her chin.

Grandma and Grandpa looked at each other, and at last they smiled. "Well, if you like yourself and you're happy," said Grandpa, "so am I."

Mom wasn't nearly as understanding. She demanded all sorts of questions as to how Yuugi had gotten the clothes, as if Yuugi was some sort of juvenile shoplifter. Yuugi answered her questions unwillingly, scowling, and eventually her mother had to let it be.

* * *

Pretty soon it was known all over school that Mutou Yuugi was cool now. She was more confident, she looked better, she had a new group of popular girlfriends, and she was especially close friends with Mazaki Anzu.

A class project Yuugi was assigned to randomly with a bunch of other girls and boys really sealed the deal.

"What are we going to do?" everyone was asking, and so Yuugi drew down a detailed and imaginative plan on a sheet of paper. More sure of herself now, she showed it to everybody.

"Hey, how about this?" she said.

They expected the idea to be stupid, but they stared at the paper and slowly their eyes widened in surprise. "Hey!" said one boy, impressed. "That's pretty good!"

Yuugi put down the paper and blushed, curling her shoulder shyly, smiling sweetly. With her new appearance and self confidence, people took it better.

Soon, no one had a problem with the shy but feminine and classy Mutou Yuugi at all. She was a little different, but most people wrote that off as eccentricity and creativity. She made all kinds of more distant friends at school - even people who used to pick on her.

She ate it all up eagerly, thrilled.

* * *

Anzu and Yuugi spent special times together on play dates after school. They met at each other's houses at first, and Yuugi showed Anzu all her favorite games, though the fiery Anzu got easily frustrated when she didn't win, much to Yuugi's amusement.

But Anzu also introduced things to Yuugi. Anzu's distant parents took a very hands-off approach, both of them with away-from-home jobs, so when they were at Anzu's house they could go out and explore the city together.

Yuugi saw all the things Domino City had to offer - from graffiti ridden buildings housing arcade games set next to adult clubs and massage parlors, to wide gleaming shopping centers, to little narrow streets full of tiny foreign food places. They took the bus and the metro, and saw everything from women in expensive coats to homeless old men talking to lamp posts. They went to bowling alleys and skating rinks and burger places and everything in between.

Anzu gave Yuugi her first taste of adventure.

Yuugi and Anzu got drinks and snacks while exploring the city together, and Yuugi found she loved iced teas, lemonades, and smoothies. Peach green tea lemonade and mango strawberry smoothies were her favorites. They quickly became her go-to snack and drink, she sipping at the straws in big plastic containers.

But Anzu also introduced Yuugi to music. Yuugi found her favorite kinds of music to be electronic and dance pop music. Anzu loved music of all kinds - listening, playing, dancing, singing.

"I want to be a ballet dancer in New York someday," she admitted to Yuugi excitedly, and Yuugi told her new best friend she was sure Anzu would make it. And Anzu did have genuine talent - Yuugi didn't know how accurate a measurement this was, but Anzu always beat her at Dance Dance Revolution.

Yuugi genuinely believed the ever-confident, teasing Mazaki Anzu to be capable of anything. Anzu's lack of money seemed only a minor obstacle in Yuugi's admiring eyes.

* * *

It took Yuugi a while to realize she didn't talk to her imaginary friends anymore.

It crept up on her slowly. She talked to them less and less, and then one day she realized she was too busy to talk to them at all.

They stood in front of her one afternoon in the setting sun after school, in front of the game shop.

"I'm sorry," said Yuugi, looking guiltily up at them as if she honestly believed they were real. "I don't talk to you anymore."

"It's okay," said the purple brontosaurus gently. "We're happy for you. You have new friends now."

"Yeah. And other kids need us," said the fluffy orange one-eyed square. "So you have to let us go."

Yuugi smiled, her eyes stinging. "Okay," she said, full of bittersweet, sour-apple sorts of feelings. "Goodbye. Thanks for everything."

And they disappeared in the last rays of the setting sun as it slid down under the Domino City skyscrapers, the sky above beautiful shades of pink and gold.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Grandma didn't usually go to the doctor's.

She had a great distrust of medical specialists of all kinds, and anyway, she hated accepting help. So when she started getting stomach pains, she ignored it for a long time. But soon, they began crippling her. She hunched over clutching her abdomen one night while making dinner, and for the next two days she was bedridden and could barely move, moaning from her bedsheets.

Yuugi was genuinely frightened, and Sugoroku broke down. "You have to go to the doctor," he told Hanetsuki.

So one day they did, together. Yuugi stayed at home for once, swinging her legs at the shop's front counter, waiting and waiting… They didn't come back until late at night. Grandma's eyes were red-rimmed and she couldn't look Yuugi in the face.

"Your grandmother has cancer," Grandpa said, an old, tired kind of sadness in his face and his eyes. For a moment, there was a curious ringing in Yuugi's ears, as if she had simply not heard properly.

"But - but Grandma can't die! Grandpa will float away!" she cried, alarmed, leaping to her feet. And then I'll be all alone, she didn't say.

Grandma broke down and hunched over, sobbing into her hand, and Grandpa looked at Yuugi like she'd said the wrong thing. "Go to your room," he told her in a dark, stern voice that was most unlike his usual one.

Yuugi went up to her room and sat on her bed for a long time, staring at the far wall. When she finally started crying, it was very sudden and vicious and loud and it only lasted for a few minutes, her body convulsing as if trying to hold something painful inside.

* * *

Yuugi had never had an official, adult job before, but as the young daughter, she was the one who had to take her grandmother to and from the hospital, caring for her as she underwent chemotherapy.

"Do your part," her mother said.

And Yuugi did do her part. She felt bad about making her Grandma cry that first night. She would sit beside Grandma in the hospital chair and watch the fluid drip up and down her arm through the IV, watching the liquid enter her grandmother's body in morbid fascination. That was twice a week. She would walk Grandma to and from the hospital. Later, when Grandma couldn't walk, Yuugi wheeled her in a wheelchair.

She watched the slow deterioration of her grandmother, but could do nothing to stop it. Grandma grew thin until she was skin and bones, her elbows knobby and in sharp definition, her frame newly delicate, her skin dry and flaky. She lost all her hair, threw up, had sudden vicious bouts of diarrhea, had to undergo surgery -

And Yuugi was there through all of it. She bought her grandmother wigs, sadly gathered up loose hair, cleaned her grandmother, held her as she threw up, moisturized her bare skin, clutched her hand going into surgery, tended to her bruises. This became a regular ritual, every day after school. Her grandmother became newly human and vulnerable to Yuugi, the adult miracle demystified for her in a way it had not been before.

No one at school ever said anything about the fact that Yuugi had no free time anymore, mainly because they had no idea what to say at all.

One of the only things that helped Grandma's pain was massage. Yuugi took after-school massage classes, read books about cancer - both about dealing with the illness, and about dealing with death. She would watch in amazement as nurses remained calm in the face of horrific things, soothing and healing things that seemed impossible to heal.

Yuugi never broke down. Instead, she found a painful kind of joy in helping and massaging her sick grandmother, and decided she wanted to be that person for lots of people.

"I want to become a nurse and a masseuse," she declared one day. Grandma's eyes watered, and she took Yuugi's hand affectionately.

Yuugi told Anzu at school this, and Anzu said, "So neither of us have any money for our dreams! We can work and pay our way to our dreams together!" She was very excited about this, one of the only times she'd ever allowed herself anything but sadness in the face of Yuugi's presence.

It felt good to Yuugi, knowing there was someone else whose poverty made dreams seem equally impossible. She had fantasies of herself and Anzu as adults, working fast food or retail as they tried to save up enough money to become someone important. Anzu as an artist and dancer - Yuugi as a medical student.

She began taking particular care with her studies. Any kind of work in medicine required excellent grades.

She took something horrible and made something good out of it - but the thing itself remained horrible.

* * *

One afternoon, Yuugi's Grandma had to undergo her second surgery. It was the last operation they would attempt, and there was a very good chance she would die while on the medical table. The hospital was then keeping her with them for a few days.

How they were paying for all this, Yuugi had no idea. Debt, probably. The idea was depressing.

Yuugi went home after her grandmother went in the surgery room and waited for the phone call. She paced up and down the shop, restless, unable to sit still.

At last, her grandfather put her to work. "Go sift through some of my boxes in the back storage room," he said, giving her something to do, and Yuugi jumped on the idea gladly.

So she was in the dusty, dim back room, surrounded by boxes, lit by a single naked lightbulb, sifting through things - and a glint of gold caught her eye. She leaned forward, and picked up a golden box with ancient symbols carved all over it. Curious, she opened up the top of the box - the lid had an eye carved into its center - and she found a broken, intricate, three-dimensional gold puzzle. One puzzle piece also had an eye carved into its center.

"Grandpa?" she called, walking back out into the shop. "What is this?" She held it up.

"Ah, you've found the Millenium Puzzle," said Grandpa, his eyes gleaming. He went over and said in a hushed voice, "I found this in the tomb of an unknown Pharaoh on an archaeological dig. This was back in an era when archaeologists were still allowed to keep some of what they found. Of course, as a game enthusiast, I had to have the Pharaoh's puzzle.

"I've sent it to game, puzzle, and strategy experts all over the world - some of the greatest minds of our time - not one has been able to solve it.

"That's the Ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus carved into its center. The symbols on the box are hieroglyphs. Some say there's black magic inside this Millenium Puzzle, a mysterious magic that can bestow gifts and curse the unworthy."

He jumped at her, grabbed her, and she leaped into the air. He straightened and laughed. "Of course, it's probably too hard for a child to solve -"

"I'm going to solve it!" said Yuugi, excitement filling her, and she sprinted up the stairs with the box without finishing her chore. She lay on her stomach on the floor of her bedroom, legs swinging in the air, fitting different puzzle pieces together. It was more distracting than difficult - something she felt she could do whenever anything was troubling her - but it was a genuinely complex puzzle. Certainly not one that could be done in a couple of hours.

Little did Yuugi know, this puzzle would take her years. But she was determined. She hated leaving any game or puzzle unsolved, and she loved cracking mysteries and unlocking hidden strategies.

But for today, she worked on the puzzle, putting this and that together - managing to fit a few different pieces into a sort of pointed corner shape - And then she started sobbing, only the second time she had done so, this fit just as sudden as the first, exploding out of her as if repressed.

"Please," she pleaded in a watery voice to the Puzzle, "please, if you have any power… Please let my grandmother live. I'll never ask for anything else again. Please let my grandmother live!"

Unseen by Yuugi, the eye inside the Puzzle box glowed faintly gold for a moment.

The spirit inside the Puzzle would not remember this later - he would not remember anything later at all, in fact - but for now, with his memories intact, the only thing he could think was that many had tried to solve his puzzle, but he had never encountered a solver or a request so innocent and pure before. So humble in only asking for one thing. One simple thing.

Grandpa ran into Yuugi's bedroom a few minutes later. "I just got off the phone. The surgery was successful. She's alive," he breathed. "Your grandmother is alive. There's a chance she'll survive the cancer."

Yuugi ran over to her grandfather, and he hugged her just as hard as she hugged him.

It was the first time the spirit of the Puzzle had ever granted a request. That should have been the first sign.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Grandma went into remission, and the family threw her a gigantic party toasting her good health. At the party, she hugged Yuugi very fiercely.

"My precious girl," she whispered, kissing the top of her head. "You saved my life."

That was the moment when Yuugi became truly determined to become a nurse.

She continued work on the Puzzle - it held a special significance for her now - but from there her social life flourished. She threw herself back into getting good grades for medicine, and also into school friendships with gusto, and people were glad to have her back. Yuugi expanded her repertoire of hobbies, first by hanging out with and getting recommendations from other people, then later by trying adventurous things herself.

If there was one thing watching her grandmother had taught Yuugi, it was to live her life to the fullest and never take it for granted. Anzu explored hobbies with her, ever up for an adventure, and they tried new things together.

Yuugi slowly grew into being a teenager - a popular teenager on top of that, with a constantly full social calendar. She became small and slim, pixie-like and graceful, delicate, with long straight black hair and big violet eyes, a heart-shaped face and pale skin. However she also tried rainbow sand art inspired hair dye, experimenting with different wild colors, usually either wearing her hair up in a hair clip or straight down, and she formed a love for beanies and for cutesy stuff - a panda bear backpack, Hello Kitty keychains, the Neko Atsume app and tee, ladybug notebooks, soot sprite and Ghibli summer dresses, a pink phone case decorated in cute little yukionna snow fairy stickers. Her typical fashion became little skirts, leggings or tights, and big boots.

She retained her love for lemonades, iced teas, and smoothies, and for electronic and pop dance music.

She continued her massage classes, and began volunteering at a local animal shelter, finding a natural gentleness and affinity toward animals. In addition to gaming and puzzles, she started crafting her own jewelry and other accessories, and doing calligraphy, origami, and ikebana flower arrangement. She still loved drawing. She enjoyed visiting theme parks and Go Karting, and she was a little obsessed with the Pokemon Go app.

She visited other people's parties, but she also often went to movies, museums and art galleries, and readings and open mic nights. She liked binge streaming TV and reading books.

She tried rock climbing, went on road trips with Anzu during summers (saving up allowance money to rent a car and a driver), did breakfast for dinner and brunch events, went picnicking, and visited onsen. She liked skiing during wintertime and on vacations.

On the note of her determination to live life to the fullest, she started doing lots of socially driven photography and street art - the street art left on walls, as she snuck there and back in the dark at night. She took a photo of each and every piece of socially driven street art she ever did, and hid them underneath her bed in her bedroom. But she also took pictures during the day, of things she saw on road trips or around Domino City.

She loved thunderstorms. Her favorite thing to do was to curl up inside with a cup of hot tea and watch the rain slant and the lightning streak across the sky, listening in fascination as the wind howled.

She started using social media. Most of her usernames involved snow, because "Yuugi" was one sound away from "Yuki." She loved snowdrop accessories and decorations, such as in earrings, and yukionna (snow fairies). Most of her profile pictures were of yukionna, and she had cute little yukionna stickers plastered over everything.

She also redecorated her bedroom, painting over her childhood walls and going through a total artistic redecoration. Her new bedroom involved bright colors with ivory, gold, and black, mixed patterns, a low-set bed, artwork on the walls and a Thai-inspired door. It was eclectic, quirky, and adventurous.

She and Anzu did adventures together, went on shopping trips together, confided in each other about hopes and fears and dreams - most of Yuugi's other friendships were distant or fell by the wayside, but her friendship with Anzu just grew closer as the years passed. Anzu and Yuugi had an affinity. In so many ways they were different - one quiet and calm, the other fiery and loud - but they shared the same innate knowledge that people and adventure, love and life experience, were what was truly important.

They supported each other when no one else did.

* * *

 _Author's Notes:_ This is the end of Yuugi's pre-canon days. Next chapter we get to high school and the beginning of canon.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

It happened during Yuugi's freshman year of high school.

The bell rang for lunch, and a bunch of people got together in the classroom to form a game of co-ed basketball out on the court, including Anzu. Several people were Yuugi's friends, and one of the guys called, "Hey, Mutou! Basketball!"

Yuugi raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, I'll just jump for the basket with my supernatural leg powers," she said. There were some snickers. "Do you not see how small I am?" She grinned.

Anzu was different - long legs, taller than Yuugi. But Yuugi, still tiny, was no good at basketball.

"Ah, come on, you don't have to win," the guy said, rolling his eyes.

"I sure as hell do. I always play to win," said Yuugi, who was rather fierce when it came to gaming. "Look, I've hung out with you guys at lunch all week, and I'll hang out with you again tomorrow, okay? But basketball ain't my thing. I'm not built for it. Go have fun."

The boy gave a mock sigh. "Fine. Be that way." Privately, he was disappointed. Basketball was primetime opportunity to look up the girls' uniform skirts, and Mutou with her perky little breasts had a pretty sweet ass.

"I'll see you later, Yuugi!" Anzu called, oblivious to the boy's thoughts and rather amused by her friend's total avoidance of games she could never win. "Have fun!"

"Thanks!" Yuugi raised a hand after her. The crowd of excited, chattering students slammed out the door, and she was left alone. She sat back down at the roll-top desk that had been assigned to her at the beginning of the year. From here, she had a couple of options. She could read a book she'd brought with her… or she could work on the Millenium Puzzle.

She chose the latter.

Taking out her bento boxed lunch and snacking idly, she pulled the Millenium Puzzle box from her book bag. "The thing that can be seen yet can't be seen," she mused, gazing thoughtfully into the hieroglyphs carved into the sides.

One could physically see it - it was a puzzle - yet one couldn't see it - it was a puzzle that had never been completed. Eight years and it was mostly done, but not entirely. She thought it was forming a pyramid shape, with the Eye of Horus carved into its center, but that was about as far as she had gotten. Whichever asshole had made this thing three thousand years ago, they'd done a good job. She wondered if the Pharaoh himself had ever solved it. Probably gotten someone to do it for him.

"Hey, Mutou, what'cha doin'?" The box was snatched from her grasp. She looked around and gasped.

Standing there were the two Professional Douchebags of her class, Jonouchi Katsuya - with messy blond hair - and Honda Hiroto - taller, with spiky brown hair. They liked picking on weaker guys and harassing girls; they were from the wrong side of the tracks.

And they had her cornered and alone. Not good.

"Give it back, Honda!" Yuugi snapped, standing, fear curling inside her stomach like a tongue.

Honda held up the box, leering. "Why? Sitting here all alone in a gloomy classroom, muttering about things that can be seen yet can't be seen? This is important to you?"

"It's a gift from my grandfather," said Yuugi through gritted teeth. "And it's a family antique. Now give it back, this isn't funny."

"What'll you do for me if I give it back?" Honda smirked, looking her body up and down.

"Fuck off, Honda. I know you don't have a crush on me. You just want to bang some chick. What's wrong? Prettier girls all turned you down, did they?" Yuugi asked mockingly.

Honda flushed and tossed the box to Jonouchi. "Look at that! I don't even have it anymore!"

Yuugi walked toward Jonouchi, who smirked and threw the box to Honda over her head. She snatched at it, but couldn't reach it. Honda grabbed the box and threw it over her head back to Jonouchi.

"Goddamnit, Jonouchi!" Yuugi spat, and Jonouchi chuckled.

"Look, Mutou," he said. "You're pretty hot, you should give yourself more credit. We just want to have a little fun." And she was hot, especially when she was all flushed and cute and angry like that. She had long black hair, big violet eyes, delicate little wrists, a finely crafted and expressive face - and a nice body, if you liked the slim and petite ingenue look. He shrugged. "Is that so wrong?"

"You know what I think, Jonouchi?" said Yuugi darkly. "I think you don't really like me either. You're just looking to get laid. And I don't think you're going to rape me, and I don't think you're going to hurt me, out of some misplaced sense of chivalry toward women. And I don't want anything to do with you. So could you just give me the box back?"

Jonouchi's smirk had turned to a scowl. "Let's see what's in here first; maybe it's valuable." He peeked inside the box, and Yuugi couldn't see what he was doing for a moment. Then he scoffed. "Never mind, that's dumb."

Yuugi took the opportunity and snatched the box back, red-faced and angry. "Then I'll be having that again. Thank you."

Anzu had just entered the room; she looked between her best friend and the two guys, alarmed and fierce. "What's going on? Yuugi, are these guys bothering you?"

"No, they were just leaving." Yuugi's eyes narrowed.

Jonouchi stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "Alright. Fine." He backed up. "If you change your mind," he grinned in a way he probably thought was appealing, "you know where to find me. Come on, Honda."

Honda gave Yuugi one last glare before the door slammed shut behind them.

Yuugi let out a deep breath and slumped against the nearest desk. "That was scary," she admitted.

"They were harassing you?" Anzu demanded, indignant. "They took your Puzzle?"

"Actually, compared to how they treat some girls in this class, they were pretty good," said Yuugi flatly. "So why are you in here?"

"Same as you," Anzu admitted wryly. "I made my first jump-shot and some hormonal asshole took a good look up my skirt. I chucked the basketball at his head and stomped off the court. Talk about desperate.

"I get the feeling high school is going to be very interesting."

* * *

"Bitch," Jonouchi muttered as he and Honda stalked down the school corridor.

"Which one?" Honda joked.

"Both of them. What's so wrong with us, if I might ask?" Jonouchi asked indignantly.

"Nothing." Honda shook his head. "I knew Mutou wouldn't go for it. Shoulda just grabbed her ass while I had the chance -"

Suddenly, they slammed into what felt at first like a wall. They looked up, and up - into the face of a huge senior with an armband marking him as hall monitor, a member of the student disciplinary committee. He looked a bit like a troll, broad-shouldered with thick eyebrows and a long, square face.

"Did I just hear," he said quietly, looking from one to the other, "someone talking about sexually harassing Mutou Yuugi?"

"N-no! No -!" Honda squeaked out, shaking his head, fearful.

"What business is it of yours? Get outta the way, you big -!" Jonouchi began heatedly, and Honda grabbed him around the neck, strangling him and slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Jonouchi, I am trying to save our lives!" Honda hissed in his ear.

Jonouchi was used to being the biggest asshole around from middle school. But Honda knew about this guy - and he was way out of their league.

"Sexual harassment is a kind of bullying," said the hall monitor, staring at them unblinkingly. "And bullying is what I've been assigned to pit myself against, if I'm not mistaken."

"Nothing! We haven't done anything!" Honda made an effort to smile, still strangling a red-faced Jonouchi into silence. "Bullying is so wrong, I totally agree!"

The boy stared at them suspiciously for a moment, and then stalked off.

"You moron!" Honda snapped once he was gone. "That's Ushio! He enforces the rules by beating the crap out of other students, and he's a senior with fighting experience who's at least twice as big as you!"

He finally let go of Jonouchi, who stumbled away, gasping for breath. "Asshole!" Jonouchi choked out. "And I'm going to make it my personal mission to beat the crap out of that dickweed Ushio!"

There was a pause as Jonouchi took deep breaths and Honda slowly calmed down.

At last, Honda kicked the wall. "Damn! Now there's nothing to do."

"Oh, no? I've got something interesting." Honda turned around curiously at the strange smirk in Jonouchi's voice - and saw a golden puzzle piece in Jonouchi's hand. It had an eye carved into it. "I took this outta Mutou's stupid puzzle box while I was looking inside it. That's just what she gets for turning us down, wouldn't you agree?"

Honda snickered. "If the puzzle's so important to her - let's see how she gets on without the last piece! Awesome, Jonouchi!"

Jonouchi chucked it out the window, and the puzzle piece fell into the school pool two stories below with a faint splash. "Fuck you, Mutou," he snapped bitterly. "Come on. Let's go."

Jonouchi and Honda left.

The puzzle piece fell to the bottom of the pool in a slow trickle of bubbles, silent.

* * *

Anzu and Yuugi were walking off campus at the end of the school day - and a voice called out, "Yuugi!"

Yuugi looked around to find one of the hall monitors, Ushio, standing there.

"Have you been having problems with harassment or bullying?" he asked her seriously without preamble.

Yuugi frowned. "Who told you that?"

"I figured it out," said Ushio dismissively. "That's not the point."

"It's nothing I can't handle," said Yuugi stoically.

"Yuugi, I can help you. You pay me, I'll be your bodyguard, I'm sure we can work out a deal -" Ushio began.

"Thanks all the same, Ushio," said Yuugi. "But I don't need any help. It was a one time thing and it's over."

"But Yuugi -"

"Look, man, I've got a shift volunteering at the animal shelter." Yuugi pointed at Anzu behind her. "Then Anzu and me are going to stop by the store to buy me some fresh hair dye, and then go back and hang out at my place." Anzu gave a little wave. "I'm not worried about Jonouchi and Honda. They gave me back what they took in joke; it's in my book bag right now. And I don't have time to stick around and argue with you about this. Okay?"

She and Anzu left. Ushio stood there, staring after them, a strange smile on his face.

"Fuck, that guy's weird," Yuugi muttered once they were a safe distance away. "Paid bodyguard? Seriously?"

"Yeah, it was pretty bizarre," Anzu admitted.

* * *

Anzu hung out at the animal shelter with Yuugi that afternoon. They stopped by the store to get the hair dye, and then headed back to Yuugi's place in the setting sun.

"Hello, Anzu!" Grandma called from the back, as they walked through the shop's front door.

"Yuugi. How are the animals?" Grandpa greeted from the front counter. "Any of them dead?"

"You ask me that every time, and it never stops being creepy and morbid," Yuugi muttered. "Anyway, Anzu and I are going up to my room."

"Someone tried to steal Yuugi's puzzle at school today," Anzu piped up. Yuugi paused on the stairs - and sighed, preparing for the onslaught.

"What?! Maybe you shouldn't take it to school anymore," said Grandma, frowning in concern.

"Yuugi, you still haven't given up on that Puzzle?" Grandpa smiled, his eyes gleaming. "Haven't I told you it's unsolvable?"

"There's no such thing as an unsolvable puzzle," said Yuugi flatly, turning back to her grandfather. "There wasn't three thousand years ago, and there isn't now."

"The old argument," Grandma muttered, sighing, going back to what she was doing.

"What about the unsavory rumors attached to it?" said Grandpa, smirking.

"Rumors?" Anzu wondered curiously.

"Oh, here we go," said Yuugi, rolling her eyes.

Grandpa took a deep breath, and began with great drama, "Everyone who found the Puzzle with me is dead. I'm the only one still alive. But here's the thing - none of them died of old age. I'm the only one who's escaped unscathed - so far. The Puzzle might as well be cursed. And the last one said with his dying breath, '... The Shadow Games'."

Anzu looked genuinely nervous. "Shadow Games. What are those?"

Yuugi sighed, and recited the story she'd been told a million times. "Shadow Games are supposedly games of magic that Ancient Egyptians played. They were just like regular games, except if you lost the game something horrible happened to you - depending on what kind of magic was invoked. Grandpa insists he's the only one who's escaped the Shadow Game fate - but he has no idea who the player that defeated them all was, or why that player chose to spare him."

"You think you know everything, Yuugi, but do you know what the hieroglyphs on the box say?" Grandpa asked slyly.

Yuugi paused.

"They say: To they who solve me, I bequeath the powers and knowledge of darkness."

Yuugi smirked. "Cool. I've always wanted to see the powers and knowledge of darkness in action," she quipped, and scampered up the stairs with the Millenium Puzzle box still safely in her book bag.

"Come on, Yuugi, the price that would bring -!" Grandpa finally called, breaking his act.

"Screw you, I'm not giving you back anything!" Yuugi's voice came down the stairs defiantly.

"She's never going to give it back to you," Grandma chuckled, still working on unpacking boxes. "You know how attached Yuugi is to figuring out that puzzle. It's the one cerebrally based game she's never been able to win."

Anzu looked up the stairs after Yuugi thoughtfully.

* * *

Yuugi and Anzu were standing by their desks, talking, before school the next day, and Ushio came into their classroom. "Yuugi!" he called out. "Could you come here for a minute?"

Anzu and Yuugi shared a wry look. "Fantastic," Yuugi muttered. "With my luck, he's gotten the headmaster involved."

"Good luck," said Anzu wryly, as Yuugi followed Ushio out of the classroom and down the halls. But to Yuugi's surprise, they left the main school building.

"Ushio-san," said Yuugi cautiously, as they went around the side of the building, "where are we going? Class starts in a few minutes and I'm not going off campus with you." She was suspicious.

"Oh, I just want to show you something." Then Ushio led them to a shadow corner and pointed, smiling. "See?"

Yuugi squinted against the gloom, and gasped. Honda and Jonouchi were slumped there, and they looked like they'd just gotten the crap kicked out of them. They were bloody, bruised, their uniforms ripped. Honda was actually unconscious. Jonouchi looked like he'd put up a better fight, but he couldn't even stand. He tried to, and then slumped back against the wall again.

Yuugi realized she'd put a hand to her mouth but had no recollection of how it had gotten there.

Jonouchi saw Yuugi and smirked. "Put a hit out on us, huh?" he asked wearily. "I should've known."

"What's wrong?" said Ushio, seeing Yuugi's expression. "I thought you'd be happy."

"Why - why would I be happy?!" Yuugi rushed down to kneel in front of Honda and Jonouchi. "Ushio-san, I never asked for this! We have to get them to the medical ward!" There was clear distress in her voice.

"No fucking way," said Ushio. "Now move it. Your bodyguard's not done punishing them." He shoved Yuugi out of the way and kicked Jonouchi in the stomach; Jonouchi let out a choking gasp.

"Bastard," he managed. He'd seen the way Yuugi's eyes had widened in pain, shock, distress. She wasn't very good at lying or at hiding her feelings. She hadn't asked for this. Ushio had done it on his own. And only a complete asshole shoved and hit some helpless girl.

"What was that?" Ushio asked mockingly, poising for another kick.

"Ushio, stop it!" Yuugi rushed in between Ushio and Jonouchi. Her fists were clenched. "If you want to hurt them anymore," she said through her fear, "you're going to have to get through me!"

Her tiny body stood between Jonouchi and Ushio. Tiny, but determined.

Jonouchi stared up at her in horror. "Yuugi," he managed, "don't be an idiot -"

Ushio suddenly slammed her up against the wall, unhinged, putting a knife right up in her face. "If you stop me from doing this, I will cut you, I swear I will fucking cut you," he hissed. "And I want my bodyguard payment. I want my money. Two hundred thousand yen."

"Ushio, you're insane!" Yuugi spat, struggling. "Nobody even at Domino High has that kind of money -"

"Then you'd better find it," said Ushio, smirking. Then he shoved himself up against her, even as she kicked and struggled, and grabbed her ass. Yuugi froze, all her muscles stiffening in terrified paralysis.

Then there was a sudden, wild yell and Jonouchi jumped on top of Ushio, yanking him off with effort. "Yuugi," he shouted, "run! Don't go back to campus - he'll kill you - just run!"

Yuugi slid backward on the ground, and sprinted away. She could hear Jonouchi's shouts and kicks and punches in the background - but, heeding Jonouchi's request, she kept running.

* * *

Yuugi was tearful all afternoon, and she could confide to no one what was wrong. Was Jonouchi right? Was it not safe to go to the authorities?

She sat on her bed, playing with the Puzzle, which she always did when intensely miserable. How the hell was she supposed to come up with two hundred thousand yen? Was Jonouchi even alive? She didn't have any phone number she could call to confirm.

She put the puzzle to her face and let just a few tears leak out. "I promised I wouldn't ask you for anything else," she whispered. "And I won't. I'm not asking for anything. But… but if someone's watching… Jonouchi saved me," she whispered, her voice breaking, breath heaving. "I just - I just don't want either of us to die."

She wiped the tears of mascara from her face, her hair a mess, and went back to working on the puzzle. She fit more and more pieces together, it suddenly demystified for her, and all of a sudden as it all came together she realized what she was looking at.

It was an upside down golden pyramid that hung from a thick leather rope - like it was meant to be worn as some sort of pendant necklace. The center piece was the Eye of Horus, and it was the only one she hadn't put into the Puzzle yet.

She reached in the box for it - and felt nothing. Grabbing the puzzle box, she looked inside. The last piece wasn't there.

Her heart nearly stopped.

* * *

Sugoroku and Hanetsuki were cautious when the beat-up teenage boy with the messy blond hair stumbled into their shop. He was soaking wet, though it wasn't raining. Without saying anything, he stuffed something into Sugoroku's hand. Sugoroku and Hanetsuki looked - it was a piece of the Millenium Puzzle.

"My granddaughter came home from school an emotional wreck and she won't talk to anyone," said Hanetsuki, suddenly fierce. "Is this the reason why?"

"Uh - no. Look, this kid, this kid at school - he's threatened Yuugi. Says he'll cut her if she doesn't give him two hundred thousand yen. She got in trouble trying to save my sorry, stupid ass. And that's - well - it's me trying to make up for one of the things I did to her."

The boy looked away, ashamed.

"She'll… Look, she'll need it to finish that stupid puzzle, so just give it to her, okay? And don't - don't tell her I told you anything. Don't say anything about me. And help her so that asshole don't get to her. I'd do it myself, but I ain't exactly made o' money."

He began backing up.

"But don't you need medical attention?" said Sugoroku, concerned.

"Me?" The boy laughed harshly. "Nah, I've had worse than this. Used to be in a gang - probably shouldn't have told you that. Your granddaughter…

"Look, your granddaughter's a good person, okay? She's the bravest goddamn girl I know."

He said it all in a rush, and then slammed out the front door. Hanetsuki and Sugoroku looked at each other silently, eyebrows lifted.

Sugoroku trooped up the stairs to find Yuugi in her bedroom, upturning everything trying to find the missing puzzle piece, panicked and a mess and trying her damndest not to start crying.

Sugoroku smiled. "Looking for this?" He held out the last piece. "I hear it got lost," was all he said gently.

"Grandpa! Thank you," Yuugi gasped, taking the puzzle piece from his hand, her whole face lighting up.

"A stranger found it and told me to give it back to you. He wishes to remain anonymous." Grandpa turned to go out of the room, and paused, staring at the finished puzzle. "Well," he said, smirking. "What a smart granddaughter we have. I must go tell Hanetsuki." And he walked to the doorway.

As Yuugi's back was turned, she still marveling over the puzzle, he slipped the necessary money into her schoolbag. Then he left quietly.

At least one thing was going right, Yuugi thought in delight, looking at the completed puzzle and the last puzzle piece. She put the missing piece in - completed the puzzle - and paused, feeling a tingling up and down her body. The eye on the Puzzle glowed for a moment, and then flickered out.

She smiled. "Huh," she said. "Eerie."

* * *

The magic of the Millenium Puzzle fit exact rules and specifications.

The Ancient Egyptians had counted on it being a man who solved the Puzzle. So said in The Book of the Dead, the one who solved the Puzzle would be possessed by a spirit, whose sole purpose was to judge evil and dispense appropriate punishment. The soul inside the Puzzle was there for this purpose. His soul and the vessel's soul were to link inside one body.

But the one who had solved the Puzzle… was a woman. And the spirit's soul couldn't sync with hers inside her body.

So instead, the magic of the Puzzle did the next best thing. It used the basic structure and power of Yuugi's body - and gave the Puzzle's spirit his own body instead.

He woke up, his eyes flickering open, on the ground near The Turtle Game Shop. He was a young Japanese teenager, like Yuugi, but he did not look like her - he was tall and slim and trim, with messy multi-colored hair that had a black color base, sharp features, and piercing purple eyes. He sat up and looked at himself in the nearest window. He was wearing an outfit of his own choosing - skintight black leather pants and tank top, gold bangles and bracelets on his wrists, buckled boots, makeup around his eyes.

He knew certain things immediately. He knew he was a spirit of the Ancient Egyptian Millenium Puzzle, sent here to dispense justice and to guard the Puzzle's solver. He knew all the same basic information about Yuugi's world that Yuugi herself knew - what cars were, how to speak the native Japanese language, etc. He knew that though Yuugi wore the puzzle, he had all its powers, being essentially a physical spirit attached to her body.

He knew he could, theoretically, fuse his mind and body with Yuugi's and possess her form temporarily, if he really needed to. But here, things got tricky. He could never completely fuse with Yuugi - she was a woman and he was a man. So any actions he took in her form would have her mental and personality influences leaking into them. Also she would experience all that he did, albeit without personal control, as if in a kind of dream.

The barriers between them would blur together, she would keep her memories - there were just far too many risks. Best to handle things himself, when possible.

He knew her - her face, her eyes, her name. Yuugi. She was his first memory. She who possessed the thing that housed his soul. He knew she was kind, pure, intelligent. He knew who he was supposed to protect.

And he had her most recent memory. It was the only other memory he possessed, in fact. This did not bother him for now. Instead it gave him clearer purpose. He knew what he had to do.

The spirit had complete amnesia. He did not know who he was, or who he had been before possessing the Puzzle. He did not even know his own name.

So there was only one thing for it. He went up to The Turtle Game Shop, and knocked on the door. It was opened, and the old man behind it looked startled. "Do you know," he said, "you are the second strange teenage boy I have received tonight."

That confirmed what he'd already suspected in the back of his mind. Jonouchi had both stolen and brought back the Puzzle piece. Jonouchi had made up for his sins - he had repented.

No, Jonouchi was not the problem.

"I - I'm sorry." He was unused to speaking; he forced the words out of his mouth. His voice was deep, male, smooth, and soft. "I - I just woke up on the street here - I have no memories. I don't know who I am."

Hanetsuki and Sugoroku's eyes widened.

"Do you have any identification on you?" Hanetsuki asked, hurrying forward.

He shook his head, arms hanging at his sides. "None."

He was let into the shop - "I thank you," he murmured - and she hurried down the stairs. Yuugi. The Puzzle hung and gleamed around her neck.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking between her grandparents and the strange teenage boy.

"He just woke up on the street. Has amnesia," said Hanetsuki. "He doesn't even remember his own name."

"Well, he can stay with us," said Yuugi. "We have a tiny room in the back of the shop. It's humble, not much, but - And then he can stay here, and go to school with me, until we figure out who he's missing from and where he came from. He looks about my age, doesn't he?"

"That's fine," said the spirit, his eyes trained on her face. "Humble is fine."

"Well, Yuugi, he can't exactly take our name. We don't know who he is -" Sugoroku began.

"Well, what do you suggest, that we leave him out on the street?" Yuugi snapped. Her grandparents were silenced. "He doesn't have to take our name. To apply for school, all he needs is a first name. So we'll give him one. And then in the meantime we'll start checking hospital records and missing persons. Okay?"

That was fine by the spirit. He knew all the searches would come to nothing.

"And what name," he asked softly, "do you have for me?"

Yuugi walked forward and looked up into his face, frowning in concentration. Thinking. "Akihiko," she said. Then she smiled playfully. "But I think I'll call you Aki for short."

Almost despite himself, Aki smiled.

"Oh, and by the way, Grandpa, I don't know how you found out…" Yuugi scuffed her shoe against the floor. "But thanks for the money," she muttered sheepishly. Her grandparents smiled.

Aki perked up in interest. Money? A plan formed…

All he would need was Ushio's phone number. And in that arena, he wasn't worried.

Sometimes, magic came in handy.

* * *

He lay in his bed in the back of the shop, completely still, until all other bodies had gone upstairs and were sound asleep. Then he stood. He ghosted up the stairs, into Yuugi's bedroom, slid the money from her bookbag and her phone from her purse.

He walked outside with the phone. Made the call. Snuck back upstairs and put the phone away.

Then he strolled off whistling through the night. The money snug in his pocket next to his hands.

Ushio would see him tonight, of course. But that didn't matter. Aki smiled.

By the end of the night, Ushio will have been driven insane.

* * *

Ushio found some wild-haired teenage kid waiting for him on campus. He was in this bizarre outfit - black leather, wrist bracelets, dark eye makeup. It was fucking weird.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for calling me out here in the middle of the night, you little shit," he growled.

The kid had to be some freshman from Domino High. But why would Ushio not recognize someone who had his number?

"Ushio-san. How nice of you to join me. I'm here on behalf of Mutou Yuugi. Here's your two hundred thousand yen - Oh, but look, isn't that interesting. She seems to have made it four hundred thousand by mistake." The boy smiled. "So how about this. Just giving you the money would be boring. Why don't we play a little game?"

"A game?" Ushio raised an eyebrow.

"Come on. Just one little game. If you win, you get four hundred thousand yen. Easy money."

"Alright. Interesting." Ushio smirked. "What are the rules?"

"We face each other over here," said the kid, going over to a nearby pillar by the front stairwell to the main building. It had a flat top surface. "And we need only one tool to play. That knife you're hiding, Ushio-san." The boy smiled pleasantly.

Ushio took out the knife willingly enough. So Yuugi had told the kid everything. But really, what could some skinny little punk do to somebody like him?

"Okay. Here are the rules," said the kid, all-business. "The players take turns placing the pile of money atop their hand, and then stabbing the money with the knife. All the money on that knife goes to the player. Their opponent then takes their turn with the remainder. The game ends when there are no more bills left. The one with the most money at the end is the winner.

"Also, if you stab your hand, you automatically lose the entire game and give all your winnings to your opponent.

"Finally: if you break any rules, there will be a penalty."

And so they began, Ushio uncertainly. The Shadow Game revealed a person's true nature. Ushio started out greedy and got greedier, stabbing at his hand harder to get progressively and progressively more piles of money. Finally, he went to stab, and paused.

Realized he could no longer control the strength of his hand. Realized he was about to stab himself.

With a strangled cry, he tried to use his strength to stab Aki, who jumped easily out of the way in time. "Penalty it is," he said smoothly.

Because he'd known all along it would either be one or the other. Either Ushio would stab himself and permanently cripple his knife hand, giving up the money - or, as Aki had secretly been hoping, he would have to exact a penalty.

A glowing golden eye appeared on Aki's forehead, and Ushio's mind snapped.

Aki took all the money and left to go back to The Turtle Game Shop. He did not look back, but Ushio's screams did amuse him faintly as he fell into the distance.

* * *

"This is my high school," said Yuugi brightly to Aki the next day, as he followed her in a newly acquired school uniform onto campus. "Domino High. And - whoa." She stopped, staring.

Ushio was surrounded by students. He was laughing in a high, hysterical sort of way, throwing dead leaves everywhere, screaming, "The money! It's all mine! No one else can have it!"

"Does he… think those leaves are money?" Yuugi asked, exasperated. She'd still been asleep when Aki had snuck back to the game shop late last night.

"It appears so," Aki observed pleasantly.

"Well, I guess I won't be needing what's in my backpack," Yuugi muttered, and continued on toward the doors. She met Anzu outside campus, and at Anzu's curious look, she added matter of factly, "This is Aki. He's an amnesiac we found outside our game shop last night. He's sticking with me till we find out where he came from."

"Oh. Nice to meet you, Aki!" said Anzu brightly. He was pretty hot, but she decided not to blurt that out in front of him.

"Likewise. Anzu, was it?" Aki inquired curiously.

"Yeah. And don't worry about it. You've got friends in us!" said Anzu. "We'll show you the ropes!"

Yuugi nodded, smiling. "Exactly."

Aki smiled slightly, looking from one to the other. "You're both very kind," he said quietly.

"Hey, uh… Yuugi?" They all turned around in surprise, and Aki's eyes grew canny. Jonouchi was standing there, embarrassed and sheepish. He seemed to have overheard everything. He could also see the Puzzle hanging around Yuugi's neck. "For the other day… thanks," said Jonouchi. "And I'm sorry."

Anzu was the only one who looked confused.

Yuugi paused, and then smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said kindly. "How are your injuries?"

"Not bad. How are you?"

"Shaken, but…" Yuugi looked back at Ushio, who was still shouting insanely, throwing leaves everywhere. "I think I'm okay."

"Hey, Yuugi - I brought you something. But you can't see it." Yuugi turned back to look at Jonouchi in surprise. "It's seen, but you can't see it. Kinda like your Puzzle." Yuugi cocked her head, confused. "It's friendship," said Jonouchi gently.

Then he blushed, red-faced, and tried to hurry off gruffly - right before Anzu roped him around the neck and dragged him back in. "Nope. You don't get away that easy!" She grinned.

"You're one of us now," Yuugi told him, mock serious. "That means you have to suffer from the embarrassment of being seen with us every single day." Jonouchi shouted in irritation and ducked away from Anzu, but he looked pleased despite himself. Yuugi turned to Aki. "And that goes doubly for you," she added in amusement. "You're one of us."

Aki had been watching the goings-on in exasperation and amusement. But at this he looked down at Yuugi, and gave a small smile - a gentler one, truer and friendlier. He reflected on what had happened in the last several hours. He thought back on waking up and having Yuugi's grandparents making breakfast for him, on getting his uniform on and walking to school with Yuugi.

"I think I'm okay with that," he said.

And Aki, Anzu, Jonouchi, and Yuugi walked into Domino High together.

* * *

 _Author's Notes_ : Obviously, in future fights such as duels, Aki possessing Yuugi will become necessary. But remember - it won't just be Aki. Yuugi will remember everything, and part of her will be fighting from the beginning too.

Eventually, I plan on having Yuugi duel on her own. She will have a deck, Aki will have the more traditional deck, and then they'll have a combined deck.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Interlude

The next week, their home room teacher assigned them a partner for the year.

"This person will be your study partner, they will be who you do projects with, so get to know them well," said their instructor. "We have tried to pair boys with girls, and we have tried to make it so that you're not partnered with someone you're already friends with.

"The whole point of this exercise is to get to know your classmates better."

Yuugi looked down at her assigned slip of paper: Kaiba Seto.

She found him in the crowds of kids milling about the classroom. She knew who he was, of course. Fancy rich kid, ran a big company, child genius - only here on a technicality, because he had to be.

He was tall and lithely attractive, with brown hair that fell into deep blue eyes and pale skin. He sat there, unmoving, his arms crossed, staring at her expressionlessly.

"Kaiba Seto?" said Yuugi, trying for a smile. "I'm your partner."

"... Look," said Kaiba Seto at last. "I'll do all the work for our team. I don't particularly enjoy working with the flaws and frailties of other people."

"Well, that's too bad, because that's exactly what this project has assigned," Yuugi challenged. "Look, I'd personally rather be with one of my guy friends, but we've been assigned to work together, so - I need the good grade. I want to work in medicine."

Kaiba Seto's eyebrow rose, his first sign of life.

"You look surprised, Seto."

"Don't call me that."

"We'll be studying together for the entire year. You can't honestly expect me to call you Kaiba," said Yuugi, slumping in exasperation.

Seto said nothing for a moment. Then, "... If so, you should be glad I'm doing all the work."

"Huh?" Yuugi blinked in surprise.

"If you want to go into medicine, you'll need good grades. Me doing all the work virtually guarantees you that," Seto pointed out coldly.

"Yeah, but… It's a point of pride for me." Yuugi sighed, frustrated. What was wrong with this guy? "I want to be able to say I did my fair share of the work and I still got a good grade. Look, I'm not asking you for anything. I'm not asking you for money, even though I need money. I'm not asking to be invited over to your mansion; we can work in the school library. I'm not asking for you to do an unfair share of the work.

"I just want to be your class partner. I'm sure I'm not as smart as you, but I'm pretty smart. I think we can work through this… Seto."

Seto stared at her for a moment. "Fine," he said brusquely at last, going back to his book. "... Yuugi."


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Jonouchi ran and caught up with Aki on the way to school one day. Anzu and Yuugi were walking, chatting, several feet ahead.

"So, what kind of porn do you like?" Jonouchi asked conversationally. Aki's eyes widened.

"... Excuse me?"

"You know. What gets you off?" Jonouchi leaned toward Aki and pointed ahead. "Is it either of those girls?" he whispered.

Aki's eyebrows rose skeptically. "This conversation makes me uncomfortable," he announced.

"What? It's natural!" said Jonouchi. "All guys do i -"

"What the hell are you two talking about back there? Come look at this!" Anzu called, hands to her mouth, from up ahead. Aki gave Jonouchi one last exasperated look, and then they hurried forward to meet up with Anzu and Yuugi. "There's a television van parked outside the school." Anzu pointed.

Sure enough, there stood the van, parked in front of the gates.

"I would think there's some sort of celebrity coming to our school," said Yuugi skeptically, "but Seto's pretty big news. You'd think if a TV van were going to be here, it would have come for him."

Then she scampered over, stood on her tiptoes, and peeked inside the van. "It's a one-way window," she said matter of factly. "All black. I can't see anything."

Aki sighed. "Yuugi," he said, pained, "you really do need to be more careful."

"What?" Yuugi grinned, and she and her friends headed past the van and toward school. The director's assistant saw them, and his eyes caught on the tiny, blindingly beautiful girl with rainbow shots in her French braid of black hair.

He held up his camera and touched the button, capturing her face. Click.

* * *

"What if there is a celebrity coming to our school, though, in disguise?" said Jonouchi intently. "Can you imagine unmasking her? I could make a killing taking photos of her naked!" He grinned.

"That's called illegal," said Anzu flatly. "Once again, Jonouchi, you prove you're a terrible human being."

"Hey!"

"Actually, she's right," said Aki, deadpan, and he looked smooth and unfazed when Jonouchi gave him a betrayed look.

"... Are you all just going to congregate every morning right beside my school desk?" They looked around to find Seto sitting there, glaring up at them from his book.

"Hey! We're allowed to 'congregate' anywhere we want, asshole!" Jonouchi snapped.

Seto smirked. "Do you even know what 'congregate' means?" Jonouchi was silent. "Thought not."

"We've placed our desks right next to each other," said Yuugi, smiling uneasily, before Jonouchi could get any angrier. "It's just more convenient." Seto made an irritated sound, but said nothing. "Besides, aren't you curious about whether or not there's a celebrity around here?"

"If there was, I would have heard about it," said Seto simply. "There is nothing."

* * *

The assistant director stole a uniform from the locker rooms and lurked around the hallways, waiting for her to show. He'd shown somebody her picture and they'd pointed him in the right direction, telling him her name.

He needed to get off somehow. Assistants didn't exactly get laid very often.

At last, she showed up with a group of people - a brown-haired girl, a blond guy, a wild haired guy, and Kaiba Seto, of all people, who was trailing somewhat unwillingly behind and pretending not to notice or care about anybody else.

"Hey! Yuugi!" Yuugi and her friends looked around and paused as the assistant director came up, smiling eagerly.

"Do I know you?" Yuugi asked curiously.

"No, I just - I heard you talking about the celebrity on campus. I have the inside intel. I could get you in, if you wanted."

"Great! Me and my friends can -!" Yuugi began brightly.

"Uh, actually." He coughed uncomfortably. "I was thinking it could be - just you and me?"

Yuugi's eyes grew canny. The wild-haired kid's had narrowed in suspicion; Kaiba Seto had raised a skeptical eyebrow; the other two were glaring. "Look," she said delicately, "I'm not interested in any sort of… romantic attachment. Okay? I've sort of sworn off going to strange places with anybody I don't know very well," she added darkly, thinking of Ushio.

The assistant director glared at her as she and her friends walked away.

* * *

Over the following days, he tried to play his revenge by paying people to ask her to come out behind the school building. She could be the kid, he thought, who was beaten up on camera for their bullying segment.

But nobody could get Yuugi to leave the safety of her classroom and her friends.

At last, the director got impatient with his assistant. "I'm tired of waiting and listening to your excuses!" he shouted into the guy's face. "We're picking somebody else!"

In the end, they picked a skinny little bespectacled comic book nerd named Hanasaki. He was tricked behind the school building and beaten up by the assistant director for the camera.

Yuugi and her friends saw the footage on TV the next day and sobered, recognizing the assailant. "That could have been me," she realized.

Aki knew he had to act. It was time for another Shadow Game.

The next day, the assistant director was found in his own home, with the exact same blood and bruise pattern as Hanasaki's plus a wound in his groin.

Aki did not take kindly to people who threatened Yuugi. They infuriated him in rather vicious ways.


End file.
